name several times urged with the greatest warmth by the council of state. And this has been hitherto one continued obstacle, and a very just one too, to the renewing of an alliance betwixt the two nations; nay, if we consider how other nations have frequently acted in like cases, it may be considered as a very just cause for a war.

But as to the disputes that have arisen in the West Indies, though we, both in the continent itself, and in the islands, have plantations as well as they, and have as good, nay, a better right to possess them, than the Spaniards have to possess theirs, and though we have a right to trade in those seas, equally good with theirs; yet without any reason, or any damage sustained, and that when there was not the least dispute about commerce, they have been continually invading our colonies in a hostile way, killing our men, taking our ships, robbing us of our goods, laying waste our houses and fields, imprisoning and enslaving our people: this they have been doing all along till these present times, wherein they have of late engaged in an expedition against them.

For which reason, contrary to what used to be done formerly in the like case, they have detained our ships and merchants, and confiscated their goods almost every where through the Spanish dominions: so that whether we turn our eyes to America or Europe, they alone are undoubtedly to be considered as the authors of the war, and the cause of all the inconveniences and all the bloodshed with which it may possibly be attended.

There are a great many instances of the most cruel and barbarous treatment, the English have perpetually met with from the Spaniards in the West Indies; and that even in time of peace, both since the year 1604, when the peace was patched up by King James, till the time that the war broke out again, and since that last peace, which was concluded in the year 1630, to this very day. We shall only mention a few of them.*

After a peace was concluded in the year 1605, a ship called the Mary, Ambrose Birch commander, was trading on the north coast of Hispaniola : the master being allured with promises of a safe and free commerce, by one father John and six of his accomplices, to go ashore to see some goods, twelve Spaniards in the mean time while going aboard to see the English goods, while the English suspecting no frauds were showing them their wares, the priest giving a signal from the shore, the Spaniards every man drew his dagger, and stabbed all the English that were in the ship, except

that after we have seen condign punishment inflicted on the authors of such a detestable crime, we may be in no fear hereafter to send our embassador to your royal court, to lay before you such things as may be equally advantageous to your majesty and our commonwealth. On the contrary, if we should suffer that blood, the shedding whereof was a thing in many respects so remarkably horrible, to pass unrevenged, we must of necessity be partakers in that detestable crime in the sight of God, our only deliverer and the eternal fountain of our mercies, and in the eye of the whole English nation; especially if ever we should send any other of our countrymen into that kingdom, where murder is allowed to go quite unpunished. But we have so great an opinion of your majesty, that we will not easily be brought to believe that your royal authority is subjected to any other power superior to it within your own dominions."

As a ship called the Ulysses was trading along the coast of Guiana, the merchants and sailors happened to go ashore, by the persuasion of Berry, governor of that place, who had promised, nay, even sworn that they should receive no hurt; nevertheless there were thirty of them taken and committed to prison. Upon which the governor writes a letter to the merchant, acquainting him, that he had indeed taken thirty of his men, and that because some foreigners, who had come there to trade with them, had defrauded him of 20,000 ducats, which, if he would send him, he swore he would restore all his men, and allow him the liberty of commerce. The merchant sent him the sum he demanded, part in ready money, part in goods, which after the governor had received, he ordered all the thirty men to be fastened to trees and strangled, except the chirurgeon, who was reserved, to cure the governor of a certain disease. This ransom, together with other damages sustained there, was computed at £7000.

two who leaped into the sea, and the rest ashore were put to death with an unparalleled cruelty; the master himself stript of his clothes, and fastened. to a tree, was exposed naked to be bit by the flies and vermin. And after he had continued in this miserable case for the space of twenty hours, a negro hearing his groans came to the place, and as he was just on the point of expiring, stabbed him with a spear. This ship with her goods was valued at £5400.

Another ship called the Archer was taken at St. Domingo, and all the sailors put to death. She was reckoned worth £1300.

Another ship, called the Friendship of London, with her loading, was taken by Lodowic Fajard, admiral of the Spanish fleet, all her goods confiscated, and the merchants and mariners thrown into the sea, except one boy who was reserved for a slave. This ship with her loading was esti

mated at £1500.

The sailors going ashore out of another ship, called the Scorn, (the Spaniards having solemnly sworn they would do them no prejudice,) were all nevertheless bound to trees, and strangled. The ship with all her goods was seized, and the merchants, to whom she belonged, lost at this time £1500.

In the year 1606, a ship called the Neptune, was taken at Tortuga, by the Spanish guarda costas, valued at £4300.*

The same year, another ship, called the Lark, was taken by Lodowic Fajard, and confiscated with all her loading, valued at £4570.

Another, called the Castor and Pollux, was taken by the Spaniards at Florida, by whom she was confiscated, and all her sailors either killed or made slaves; for they were never heard of afterwards. This vessel with her loading was valued at £15000.†

In the year 1608, a Plymouth ship called the Richard, commanded by Henry Challins, fitted out at the expense of Lord Popham, lord chief justice of England, Ferdinand Gorges knight, and others, to go to Virginia, happening to be driven by stress of weather upon the southern part of the Canary islands, in her way from thence to the coast of Virginia, she chanced to fall in with eleven Spanish ships returning from St. Domingo, who seized her; and though the captain, to rescue himself out of their hands, produced a royal passport, yet the ship with all her goods was confiscated, the captain himself barbarously used by them and sent to the galleys. This was a damage of more than £2500.

A ship, called the Aid, was served much the same way by Lodowic Fajard, having been taken under pretence of friendship; she too with her goods was confiscated, and all the sailors sent to the galleys, where some were cudgelled to death for refusing to ply the oars. Which vessel with her goods, by the Spaniards' own estimation, was worth £7000.

The same year another ship, called the Gallant Anne, William Curry commander, as she was trading at Hispaniola, was likewise confiscated with all her goods, and all the sailors hanged; each of them, by way of ridicule, having a piece of paper sewed to his coat, which had these words written upon it, "Why came ye hither?" This ship with her burden was

* John Davis lost two ships with all their goods, and the Spaniards slew all the men that were aboard of them, to the entire loss of that voyage, and this was computed at £3500.

† Another ship belonging to some London merchants, John Lock commander, was taken by the Spanish fleet, at the isle of Tortuga, because she had been trading there, and had felled some trees; for this she was confiscated, most of the sailors put to death and the rest condemned to the galleys. This was esteemed a loss of £5300.

valued at £8000. These instances do sufficiently show what kind of peace the Spaniards maintained with us during the reign of King James, who was always very much afraid of breaking the peace with them. And we may also plainly discover the same acts of hostility and barbarous treatment ever since the last peace, which was made in the year 1630, to this very day. For this end we will first speak a little of those colonies, that were planted by some noblemen of this nation, in the isle of Catelina, which they call the isle of Providence, and the island of Tortuga, by them called the island of Association. These islands about the year 1629, being then quite uninhabited, having neither men nor cattle in them, were seized by the English, who at that time were at war with the Spaniards. The year following, when peace was established betwixt the two nations, the Spaniards having made no exception about these islands, King Charles, in a charter under the great seal of England, declared himself master of the isle of Providence and some other islands adjacent to it, which he thought no way inconsistent with his peace, and gave them in possession to some noblemen and their heirs, and next year he extended this grant to the isle of Tortuga.

And though the above-mentioned planters had got possession of these islands by the king's grant, and though this grant was exceeding well founded, first on the law of nature, since neither the Spaniards, nor any other people whatever, were in possession of these places when they seized them; and secondly, on the right of war, since they were taken possession of in time of war, and were not excepted in the articles of peace, whence it follows from the second article of the last treaty, that the title of the Spaniards to these islands (even supposing they had had one) was made null by their own consent: and though likewise, neither the aforesaid company of planters in general, nor any one of them in particular by any action of theirs, had given any just cause of offence, either to the king of Spain or to any of his subjects, till they had first in a violent manner attacked our ships and colonies, and had slain several of the English, and set fire to their houses: yet the Spaniards, being firmly resolved to break the peace in these places, about the twenty-second of January 1632, without any the least provocation, betwixt the isle of Tortuga and the cape of Florida, in a hostile manner fell upon a certain ship belonging to the company, called the SeaFlower, on her return from the isle of Providence, in which engagement they slew some of the men aboard that ship, and wounded others.

After this, about the year 1634, the isle of Tortuga was attacked by four ships belonging to the Spaniards, without any injury done on the part of the English, in which attack upwards of sixty were slain, many wounded and taken prisoners, their houses burnt down and quite demolished, their most valuable goods carried off by the Spaniards, and the English almost wholly driven out of that island; of whom some were hanged, others carried to the Havanna, and detained in the most abject slavery. One Grymes, who had been a gunner in Tortuga, was distinguished from the rest, by a death remarkably cruel. Some of them flying for refuge to a certain desert island called Santa Cruz, were again set upon by the Spaniards, who even pursued them thither with three galleys in the month of March 1636, of whom forty were killed, and the rest taken prisoners, and used with the utmost barbarity.

In the year 1635, July 24th, the Spaniards, with two great ships and one galley, made likewise an attack upon the isle of Providence, and they fought for several hours, but at that time they were repulsed and forced to give over their enterprise. However, they attempted the same thing a second time, about the year 1640, with twelve ships, some large, and some of

a lesser size, whereof the admiral's ship was called the Armadillo of Carthagena, one of the greater galleys of the royal plate-fleet, and having sent a great number of soldiers ashore, they were confident of making themselves masters of the whole island; but yet were repulsed with a great deal of damage, and forced to retreat. Nevertheless, having equipped another fleet, they returned a little after, when the planters, at variance among themselves, did not so much employ their thoughts about what method they should take to defend themselves, as about the terms upon which they might most advantageously surrender; which terms, upon their giving up the island, they found no difficulty to obtain. But the island was by this means wrested out of the hands both of the planters and the commonwealth, of whom the former sustained the loss of more than £80,000, and the latter, besides the loss of the island, hereby received a very open and public affront. After the Spaniards had thus made themselves masters of the isle of Providence, a ship bringing some passengers hither, who wanted to transport themselves to this place from New-England, the Spaniards by stratagem having found means to get her brought within gun-shot, (the people in the ship knowing nothing of their late conquest of that island,) she was in great danger of being taken, and with very much difficulty rescued herself; the master of the ship, a very honest and worthy man, was killed by a bullet-shot from the island.

Nor were the Spaniards content to confine the acts of hostility, which they have exercised upon the people of that colony, within the boundaries of America, but have also treated them in the same hostile manner in Europe. For in the year 1638, December 25th, a ship belonging to that same company, called the Providence, Thomas Newman commander, two leagues from Dungeness on the very coast of England, was assaulted and taken by Sprengfeld, captain of a privateer belonging to Dunkirk, to which place this ship was brought, and her cargo detained, which even by the computation of many persons in that place, was reckoned to amount to the sum of £30,000. As for the sailors, some were slain, some wounded, and the rest, after having been treated with the greatest inhumanity in their own ship, were hurried away to Dunkirk, where they met with much the same usage, till they found some way to make their escape; and though the owners demanded satisfaction in the most earnest manner, and the last king by his resident Mr. Balthaser Gerber, and both by letters written with his own hand, and the hand of secretary Coke, asked reparation on their behalf; yet they could neither procure the restitution of their goods, nor the least compensation for these losses.

But there are other examples of the Spanish cruelty, which are of a later date, and still more shocking; such as that of their coming from Porto-Rico and attacking Santa Cruz about the year 1651, an island that was not formerly inhabited, but at that time possessed by an English colony governed by Nicol. Philips, who with about an hundred more of the colony was barbarously murdered by the hands of the Spaniards, who besides this attacked the ships in the harbour, plundered their houses and razed them from the very foundation; and when they could find no more to sacrifice to their fury, (the rest of the inhabitants having fled to the woods,) returning to Porto-Rico, they gave the miserable remnant, who were well nigh famished, time to remove from Santa Cruz, and to betake themselves to some other neighbouring islands. But a little time thereafter, they returned in quest and pursuit of those who skulked in the woods; but they had the good fortune to find a way of making their escape, and stealing away privately to other islands.

In the same year 1631, a ship belonging to John Turner being driven into the harbour of Cumanagola by tempestuous winds, was seized by the governor of that place, and confiscated with all her lading.

The same was done to captain Cranley's ship and her goods.*

And in the year 1650, a certain vessel pertaining to Samuel Wilson, loaden with horses, was taken on the high seas in her way to Barbadoes, and carried to the Havanna. Both the ship and her goods were confiscated, most of the sailors imprisoned, and like slaves obliged to work at the fortifications.

The same hardships were endured by the sailors aboard a certain ship of Barnstable about two years since, which in her return from some of our plantations in the Carribee islands, springing a leak hard by Hispaniola, the sailors to save themselves, being obliged to get into the long boat, got ashore, where they were all made slaves, and obliged to work at the fortications.

By these, and many more examples of the same kind too long to be reckoned up, it is abundantly evident, the king of Spain and his subjects think they are no way bound by any condition of peace to be performed to us on their part in these places, since they have habitually exercised all sorts of hostilities against us, nay have even done such things as are more insufferable, and more grievous, than open acts of hostility; and since that cruelty, with which they usually treat the English in America, is so contrary to the articles of peace, that it does not so much as seem suitable to the laws of the most bloody war: however, in that embargo of the king of Spain, by which he orders our merchant ships and their goods to be seized and confiscated, the whole blame is laid upon the English, whom he brands with the odious names of treaty-breakers and violators of the most sacred peace, and likewise of free commerce, which he pretends to have so religiously maintained on his part, and gives out that we have violated the laws of peace and commerce with such strange and professed hostility, that we attempted to besiege the town of St. Domingo in the isle of Hispaniola. Which is the only cause he offers, why the goods of the English are confiscated in Spain, and the trading people confined; though this is likewise. aggravated by his boasted humanity; for he maintains that he in the most friendly way received our fleets into his harbours,† where it could be of any advantage for them to enter, and that his ministers did not at all require of us a strict observance of the articles of peace, that were agreed to by the two crowns, which forbid both parties to enter a harbour with more than six or eight ships of war.

But as he, by talking in this strain, acquits our fleets of all trespasses and violations of treaty in these harbours, since if any such thing as is objected has been done and passed over, it has been done by the allowance of himself and his ministers; and as it is exceeding manifest, that he has not been. so favourable for nought, if he will but reflect with himself what vast profits he has received from our fleets, so on the other hand, that the king and his ministers have not at all in fact observed the agreements he speaks of, in

And also to one belonging to John Bland, commanded by Nichol. Philips, in the very same harbour.

† But Swanley, our admiral, was not so civilly treated in Sicily, in the harbour of Drepano, when in the year 1653, about the month of June, his ship called the Henry Bonaventure, together with a large and very rich Dutch ship called the Peter, which he had taken, was by the treachery of the Spanish governor in that place, taken by seven Dutch ships, under the command of the younger Trump in the very harbour, no further than a small gun's shot from the bulwarks, whereby the merchants, to whom that ship belonged, lost more than £63,000.

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